a Black tale
by BlankBlakes
Summary: Gabrielle Black is left in an orphanage when her father goes to Azkaban. One day she gets an unexpected guest who tells her she's a witch and she's been accepted to Hogwarts. Once there, she befriends Fred and George Weasley and they get in a lot of trouble together. (This is a rewrite of an old story, own nothing but my OC & rated T for possible future chapters)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one

It was a blisteringly hot afternoon in mid-july. The air outside felt dry and suffocating, causing all the inhabitants of the small village, a four hour drive from London, to stay inside with their doors shut and their squeaking fans on. The only ones outside were two children, neither older than eleven, who were sitting under a tree at the edge of the garden, in an attempt to avoid their chores. Unfortunately, both lived at the town's orphanage. The girl, Gabrielle, was tugging at the grass, listening to her friend's story.

"So, me and Chuck, we get to do the dishes for the next two weeks because of it." Fletcher finished, with a proud grin on his face.

Gabrielle smirked, "And shouldn't you be helping him now?"

"Shouldn't you help Anna clean your room?" He shot back and smiled when she didn't answer, his teeth looking remarkably white compared to his dark skin.

"So," he said, laying on his back, "what do you wanna do today?"

Shrugging, she ripped a handful of grass and dirt out of the ground and chucked it at him, hitting him in the face. He groaned and sat up, wiping it off of him. He was just about to get back at her as Mrs Miller, the owner of the orphanage, yelled frantically from the house.

"You two, get inside! If you think you can avoid your chores that easily, you are mistaken!" Her high-pitched voice sounded loud and angry, even at such distance. As Mrs Miller wasn't to be messed with, they got up immediately and started running back to the house as fast as possible. When they finally stood in front of her, she looked even angrier than before. Her face was plastered into a frown, making her wrinkles even more obvious.

She crossed her arms, "Fletcher, I'm extending your punishment by another week, now go help Chuck."

"Yes, ma'am" The boy shared one last annoyed look with his friend before taking off.

"As for you," she now turned to Gabrielle, "I believe you have a visitor."

Curiously, she followed Mrs Miller to the living room. Nobody ever got any visitors. The last child to actually be adopted was over three years ago, and that was by some long lost relative. But it wasn't adoption this visitor had come for, it was something far more important.

Sitting in the armchair by the fire was an old woman, with grey hair tied back into a bun and square glasses. The look on her face was severe and rather intimidating and Gabrielle didn't feel like getting on this woman's bad side.

"Good afternoon, I am Minerva McGonagall. You must be Gabrielle Black." She stood up to shake her hand. Without waiting for a reply, she turned to Mrs Miller and continued.

"Excuse me, but is it possible for us to talk in private?"

"Oh yes, of course." she said, obviously taken by surprise, "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me."

It wasn't until she'd shut the door behind her, Minerva McGonagall spoke again. "Before we start I'll have to warn you that this will be a lot to take in, so I expect you to keep your questions for when I'm finished. Can you do that?" Gabrielle nodded, partly impressed by the woman's sincerity, partly scared by it.

Minerva sat down, gesturing for her to do the same. She started with a deep breath, "I heard you're familiar with your father's imprisonment?" The girl nodded again, a dozen questions already coming to mind.

Despite having imagined this conversation a dozen times, there wasn't an easy way for Minerva to say this. "Allow me to start over. Have you ever, made something happen? Something inexplicable?" The girl shook her head without much thought. Minerva sighed.

"I'm going to need you to think. Have you ever been so sad or angry that something broke, or caught fire? Perhaps when you were in danger?" Gabrielle thought about it. She had a tendency for breaking things, sometimes even without touching them. But what did it matter?

"That would be because you are gifted, Gabrielle." she continued after a long silence. "And so was your father. You come from one of the most ancient remaining bloodlines in the Magical World. Your family consists of, as people say, wizards."

"W-wizards?" She asked, as if she hadn't heard correctly.

"Yes, wizards. And that would make you and I witches. Now, there are schools for people like you. The closest and finest is called Hogwarts School For Witchcraft And Wizardry. It's located in Scotland, concealed from any unwanted Muggle attention. Muggles are people without magical abilities, like everyone else here." She added when she saw the girl open her mouth in question.

"I am the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts and I'm here because you are accepted for our school. The train leaves at 10 am sharp, at King's Cross Station in London on September first."

Giving her a moment to take it all in, Minerva grabbed a thick envelope from her pocket and handed it to her. Gabrielle opened it and read it, a frown on her face all the while. "I'm sorry, ma'am. But I'm afraid I don't have the money to go to your fancy boarding school. I'm starting at the local public school in a few months anyways. And for the record, I don't believe in fairytales anymore."

The old lady raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in the girl's attitude. She whipped out her wand from beneath her robes, a mere twig at first sight, and pointed it towards the fireplace.

"Incendio." She muttered and with a slight flick of her wand fire was set ablaze, leaving the young girl baffled.

"The world is much stranger than you may have presumed, Miss Black." McGonagall said, her face forming into a smirk. Gabrielle stared at the fire for about a minute or so more before turning her attention back to the woman in front of her.

"Say I believe you, how am I supposed to afford anything that's on this list?"

McGonagall crossed one of her legs over the other. "We have a fund for.. less fortunate students. Which means the school will lend you used schoolbooks and other necessities to participate in class. As for your wand, I'm willing to go to Diagon Alley with you before school starts."

Gabrielle wanted to ask what or where this Diagon Alley was, but didn't. She figured she wouldn't understand the answer anyways. However, she found herself believing this woman, something she wasn't eager to admit.

"I hope I've convinced you by now, as I have other places to be." Minerva said strictly as she stood up and straightened her robes. Gabrielle nodded warily and stood up as well. The old woman stared back at the girl, a certain sadness overcoming her. She remembered the time when a young Sirius Black attended Hogwarts. It was a shame what he'd become.

"Know this, Miss Black. Your father is a well known criminal, especially in our world. He did some terrible things. Most of the students at Hogwarts will also know about his crimes. Some won't be too happy with your presence there."

Unexpectedly, Gabrielle cracked a smile. "Nothing I can't handle, Mrs Miller isn't happy with me being here either."

Minerva granted her a rare smile before grabbing her things. "I'll tell Mrs Miller about Hogwarts. And, Miss Black, you can't tell this to anyone. Not even your friends. It is of the utmost importance that you keep it a secret. Can you do that?"

Gabrielle nodded one last time. After that Minerva McGonagall shut the door behind her, leaving the room. About twenty minutes later she had left the orphanage altogether, leaving a very confused Gabrielle Black alone with her thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

A few days after Professor McGonagall's visit, Gabrielle failed to keep her mouth shut and told everything to Fletcher, who, surprisingly, had no problem believing her at all. He was even excited and thought it was strange that she wasn't. Gabrielle was more scared than excited to go to a mysterious boarding school to learn magic and to meet new people while having a known criminal as a father and no money. But Fletcher didn't seem to mind and would like to trade places any day, instead of going to the local public school.

A week before school, on an early monday morning, Minerva McGonagall returned to the orphanage. She looked the same as last time, strict and severe, as if she hadn't changed in the month since her last visit. Gabrielle was relieved she'd returned after all, something she'd doubted ever since she'd left in the first place. She had a quick chat with Mrs Miller, Gabrielle had to wait outside, and off they went.

As the drive to London would take to much time off of their schedule, Minerva had arranged a portkey in the form of a brush. She took it and showed it to Gabrielle, who wasn't very impressed by it.

"This is a portkey, an object enchanted to bring us to a specific location. In this case, Diagon Alley in London."

"How do you use it?" She asked, still not impressed.

"You touch it. This one is set at a specific time ; in about thirty seconds, to be exact. So I'd suggest you take hold of it, Miss Black, and don't let go until you feel solid ground under your feet."

Alarmed by the gravity in her words, Gabrielle grabbed hold of the handle. For about fifteen seconds, nothing happened. And then they were gone. The world was spinning, various colours smeared across Gabrielle's vision. A strange feeling blossomed in her stomach, as if a hook was stuck somewhere in there and was pulling her towards her destination.

What felt like minutes was over in seconds, and before she knew it her feet found solid ground. The world came to rest around her. Colours turned into silhouettes and silhouettes turned into objects and people. They stood at the beginning of a huge shopping street. It was still early on that monday morning, a time and day not chosen randomly.

However, the street was already full of people. Shops of all kinds were just opening ; one with books, one with pets, one even with broomsticks. "Quality Quidditch Suplies" it read above the door, whatever that was. There were a couple of kids gaping at the broomstick behind the display window.

"Don't get _too_ excited." McGonagall noted as she saw the girl looking around her in awe, her mouth twisting into a small smile at the sight of it. "We're only here for a wand. That's something Hogwarts can't get you second-hand."

But Gabrielle'd already stopped listening to her, now focusing her attention towards the closed Ice Cream Parlour, which had the strangest ice creams on display. McGonagall sighed, gently grabbed the girl by the shoulder and started her guiding towards the oldest shop on the street.

At Ollivanders, they were greeted by an old man with white hair and pale silvery eyes. He looked scary at first, like a ghost, but he had a gentle voice and seemed to know Minerva McGonagall pretty well. The store itself was stuffed with countless narrow boxes, piled up neatly right to the ceiling.

"So, finally, another Black? I've had lots of Blacks! I remember your father coming in for his wand. Mahogany, unicorn hair, twelve inches, if I'm not mistaken, a fine wand. Too bad, of course, for the damage it has caused. Come here, girl, let's find you a wand." After a lot of measurements - who seemed rather unnecessary - he took a box from one of the shelves and handed her the content.

"Just give it a sweep, go on." Ollivander said and before she'd even moved properly he took it from her and went to get another one. She gave Professor McGonagall a look, but she didn't seem concerned. Three wands later they found the right one.

"Dragon heartstring, oak, eleven inches, supple. An excellent choice. However, it chose you not the other way around." Although she didn't really knew what that meant, she just smiled at him and he smiled back, seemingly happy that she didn't ask him any questions.

Outside, Gabrielle looked at Professor McGonagall. "I gave the rest of your stuff to your caretaker, Mrs Miller. She'll help you pack and make sure you get to King's Cross Station in time on the first of september. Do you have anymore questions?"

She shook her head. "Good. I'm also sure you kept your abilities a secret? You didn't tell any of your friends?" Minerva suspiciously raised an eyebrow. Gabrielle shook her head again. After a minute or so of staring, McGonagall took another portkey to get back to the orphanage and they were back within seconds.

"I'll keep everything until school." Mrs Miller said, once Minerva McGonagall had disappeared again, which caused Fletcher to be very disappointed.

xxx

"But can I please come to the station with her?" Fletcher pleaded but Mrs Miller wouldn't give in. In five hours the Hogwarts Express would leave King's Cross, and they still needed some time to travel all the way to London. "No, Fletcher. You have school as well. You say your goodbyes now and do it quickly before we miss the bloody train!" He had no intention of begging any further and turned to Gabrielle, who was struggling with a heavy trunk.

"How dare you leave me here on my own between all those idiots." She smiled at him and said "It won't be that bad, I'm sure you'll become very popular." Fletcher rolled his eyes and they hesitantly wrapped their arms around each other in some sort of a hug. Unfortunately, the trunk in between them didn't make that any less awkward. "See you on Christmas, and not a day later!" He warned her and they let go of their embrace.

"See ya, Fletch." She yelled as she and Mrs Miller got in the taxi. The car started to drive and he tried to keep up with it, but soon gave up and Gabrielle watched him disappear out of sight. The further away from Fletcher and the orphanage, the less certain she was of actually leaving. But it was too late now, there was no going back.

"So, do you know where to go?" Mrs Miller felt uneasy as they entered King's Cross, there were too many people for her taste.

Not knowing where to go, Gabrielle clenched her fist around her train ticket. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Really? Because the taxi's still waiting outside and I'd like to get home as fast as possible. So if you wouldn't mind-"

"It's alright." She cut her off. "I'll find it." And that was all Mrs Miller needed to leave an eleven year old in a gigantic train station.

With clenched jaw and fist, Gabrielle started pushing her cart towards the platforms. She checked the train ticket, which said Platform 9 3/4. What? How can there be a Platform 9 3/4? There were only platforms nine and ten, none in between.

First she became nervous, then she started to panic. Had this all been a joke? Was it Fletcher? She was stuck in London with nothing but a ticket with a fake platform on it and a trunk full of 'magic' textbooks. Great.

After a while, she gave up and leaned against the wall, watching the clock tick further. Fifteen minutes until departure. The people passing didn't seem to notice as she watched them closely, looking for something that couldn't be explained. Looking for something magical.

When there were only ten minutes left, Gabrielle thought she was going crazy after thinking she saw someone disappear into a wall and when it happened for a second time, she decided that she had no choice but to check it out.

The wall between Nine and Ten was rock solid, or, perhaps, looked rock solid. As she ran her fingertips over the stone wall she felt less surprised then she should have when her hand disappeared within the cement. Without second thought, she leaned her entire body forward and went straight through the wall.

First, darkness, then, another platform. A sign above her head said Platform 9 3/4. Children were running around, screaming and laughing; families were saying their goodbyes, some had to blink away a few tears. The panic from earlier faded away and a new sort of adrenaline took its place.

"Five minutes! Five minutes until departure!" A loud voice ran throughout the platform and lots of people started to push through the doors of the Hogwarts Express. Gabrielle got rid of her trunk quickly and followed them. As she got swallowed by the crowd, heads towering high above her, it was easy to push past people because she was so small. She was even lucky enough to find an empty compartment. The adrenaline from earlier faded away and relief filled its place.

The train left the station and London behind and started its journey. The landscape soon changed from city to villages to meadows to forests and time passed slowly. Nearly half an hour later a knock on the doors prevented Gabrielle from falling asleep.

At first she thought it was diplopia causing her to see the same boy standing twice in the doorway, a huge grin on his face. But then she noticed the small differences in clothing and features. It wasn't one boy grinning at her, it were two. They both had short-cut ginger hair, an impressive collection of freckles and were a lot taller than her.

Without bothering to ask, they entered the compartment, shut the door behind them and sat down; one next to her and one across from her, both staring with the same look on their faces. Gabrielle looked at them with one raised eyebrow before hesitantly saying hello.

"Hi!" They said in unison and smiled, not averting their eyes. After a few seconds of staring she asked

"Can I help you?" Which probably sounded a bit rude, but they didn't seem offended by it.

"Just wondering if we could sit here," The one next to her said.

"Everywhere else is full." The other finished the sentence.

"Yeah, sure." Gabrielle replied, as they were already sitting anyways. They looked at each other briefly before trying to start a conversation.

"I'm Fred Weasley and this is my brother George." The one across from her, now known as Fred Weasley, stuck out his hand.

"Gabrielle Black." She introduced herself and shook it, but the boy's mouth had slightly dropped.

"Ehm, something wrong?" She asked as she slowly withdrew her hand, already knowing what was wrong. George Weasley answered.

"Wasn't your dad the psycho killer?" Gabrielle raised her eyebrows and looked offended, even though she wasn't.

"Not in that way! I mean, didn't he, like, blow up a street or something?" George quickly added and she smiled at him.

"I think so, but I was raised in an orphanage, so this magic stuff is all kinda new to me." Again, they looked at each other, but this time, they flashed a mischievous smile.

"Wicked." They both exclaimed. "So you don't know anything about the wizarding world? Gringotts? The Ministry of Magic? Quidditch?" Fred named a few things that she had never heard before.

"Nope, and what on earth is a quidditch?" She asked and they both looked offended by her ignorance.

"Quidditch is a wizard sport, very popular. It's a game with four balls. There's a Quaffle, the big one, two smaller Bludgers and a Golden Snitch. It's played on broomsticks and with two teams of seven people. Three Chasers, who try to score with the Quaffle into one of the opposing team's three goals. Two Beaters, who keep the Bludgers away from their own team-"

"-We make some fair Beaters." Fred announces with a wink.

\- a Keeper, who guards the goals and a Seeker, who has to catch the Golden Snitch in order for the game to end." George's brief explanation of the game sounded too complicated to understand after only hearing it once.

"I didn't get any of that." She concluded and stared at George.

"I admit, it might be a bit complicated, do you know about the Houses?" When she shook her head Fred continued.

"There are four Hogwarts Houses. Gryffindor, the brave. Ravenclaw, the nerds. Hufflepuff, the losers. And Slytherin, the douches." George grinned. "Our older brothers are all in Gryffindor, we intend to get there too."

"How many brothers do you have?" Gabrielle asked, interested in wizard-families.

"Four, and a sister. Bill graduated from Hogwarts last year, Charlie's a sixth year and Percy's a third year who continually proves that you don't have to be in Ravenclaw to be a nerd. Ickle Ronniekins and Ginny still have a couple of years to go before they arrive at Hogwarts."

She snorted. "_Ickle Ronniekins_?"

"Yeah, he's our favorite." George grinned and Fred started to explain the rules of Quidditch again, but this time slower so she was able to keep up. The three of them soon got to other subjects and the wizarding world slowly revealed itself to her.

Outside, the sun had started to set and the landscape looked green and wild. The small villages and industrial zones were long gone and made place for forests, hills and rivers. When the trolley arrived, Gabrielle used her only money to buy a Chocolate Frog - a request from the Weasley twins - and they found her shock very amusing as the frog jumped out of the package. She grabbed the frog tightly and looked disgusted.

"Why is this alive?" Was her first question.

"Because that's what makes it fun." George replied through laughing fits.

"Can I still eat it?" Fred nodded, unable to stop his giggling and she was relieved to taste chocolate in her mouth, not something else.

"So does every kind of magic food walk around or?" Gabrielle asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

George grinned, "I think it's only the frogs, but I'd watch out if I were you, never know what you're going to get." Gabrielle made a face and turned to Fred.

"Could you stop that annoying giggling?" She asked, which only made his strange giggles louder. "Nice try, it goes on for hours." George said, throwing the box of the chocolate frog at him.

A voice suddenly announced that they would arrive in Hogsmeade within fifteen minutes, wherever that was, and Fred and George left the compartment for her to change into her secondhand Hogwarts. Five minutes later they returned, also dressed up. To Gaby's surprise, their robes were in an even worse condition than hers.

"Ready to go?" They asked - once again, simultaneously, - and the three of them left the compartment for good. Outside the train, students were talking loudly and pushing past each other. "Firstyears! Firstyears this way towards the boats!" A deep voice said from behind them.

"Woah." Was all Fred could say as he first laid eyes on the half-giant who nudged them to follow him. They, together with a group of other first years, were led away from the others, towards a group of boats on the shore of a lake. Behind the lake lay a huge castle with several big and smaller towers. It had everyone staring until someone started to gently push them into the boats.

"I know, I know. It's something, isn't it? The name's Hagrid by the way, I'm the official gamekeeper of Hogwarts. I have to make sure yer stay out of the forest. Now make groups of three or four and get in a boat. Make sure yer don't fall in the water, eh!" He said that last bit a bit too late because seconds later a drenched boy climbed up the shore with much difficulty. Hagrid sighed, as if this happened every year, and climbed into a boat reserved only for himself.

Once in the boats, Gabrielle nudged Fred with her elbow. "Ouch!" He exclaimed jokingly.

"I was just wondering, how do you get into one of those Houses?" Fred grinned evily and saw an opportunity to prank her, but she saw it too and warned him.

"Don't you dare joke about this or I will kill you."

George laughed behind them. "Looks like she already knows you, Fred."

"Okay, okay, Bill said that it's like some sort of hat which you place on your head and it'll start talking and-"

Gabrielle shoved his arm. "I told you not to joke about this!"

Fred quickly retorted, "I'm serious, that's what he said!"

"Sure, and next after that we'll have to fight a giant sea monster that lives in this lake." She said sarcastically.

"Not really no, but I've heard that there lives a Giant Squid in the lake." George said casually from behind.

She looked around at the black water. "He's got to be kidding. Tell me he's kidding." They laughed and patted her on the shoulder, making her feel even more distressed.

xxx

"So when I call your name, you will step forward and the Sorting Hat will sort you." Professor McGonagall said. The first name on the list was Abigail Argent, a small girl with two ponytails stepped forward and took her place on the chair. An old hat was put on her head and fell over her eyes. Fred muttered "Told you so." towards Gabrielle, who just rolled her eyes because she couldn't find a decent comeback.

She was too nervous about which House she was going to be in. As Fred and George said, Gryffindor sounded pretty good. Ravenclaw didn't seem that bad but she worried if she was smart enough. A minute later Abigail was sorted into a Hufflepuff and one of the tables burst into applause.

To Gabrielle's misfortune, her name was next on the list. "Black, Gabrielle." Professor McGonagall called out. The Hall remained silent for a while and then burst into a loud whispering. Gabrielle was starting to feel nauseous. She got a small push from Fred and started walking towards the chair and the hat. She was happy that the hat covered her eyes, it was better than seeing all those faces looking at her.

A voice started mumbling. _Hmm, another Black? I've had lots of Blacks. Perhaps in Slytherin, like the rest of them?_ Slytherin didn't sound very nice. _Or Ravenclaw? Never had a Black in Ravenclaw.. _It kept on muttering and Gabrielle, wishing it would hurry up a bit, gripped the chair tightly. Eventually the hat made up its mind.

"Gryffindor!" And, to her relief, the same applause came for her. After shaking a few hands she sat down, glad that it was over. She noticed some of the students staring at her from the other tables and she felt her a blush creeping onto her face.

Another girl, Angelina Johnson, was also sorted into Gryffindor and sat next to her. They shared a relieved smile and turned their attention back towards the remaining students. One sorted in Slytherin, a Gryffindor, another Slytherin, two Hufflepuffs, a Ravenclaw, after that Gabrielle lost count and didn't feel like making any efforts to regain it. She was hungry and tired, her was head filled with too much new information.

The Weasley twins were soon sorted into Gryffindor as well and after the last students were sorted, an old man with a white beard stood up, making the hall go silent. His name was Albus Dumbledore, Fred and George had told her about him on the train.

"Hello, and welcome, as much to our new students as to our old ones. Mister Filch has asked me, once again, to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is off limits for students. Now, I won't delay you any longer. Let the feast begin!" Albus Dumbledore smiled as all kinds of food appeared on the tables. Loud conversations filled the air and Gabrielle couldn't help but stare at the ceiling. High above the candles lay the night sky with stars and no clouds to block them.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A voice between her and Angelina said, making Angelina yelp in surprise. The ghost laughed to see their discomfort and floated away, through the table.

"What- I mean who, was that?" Angelina asked as she watched the ghost leave.

"Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the Gryffindor ghost, but everybody knows him as Nearly Headless Nick." The older student next to George explained.

"This is our brother," George said.

"Charlie, the quidditch team captain." Fred wiggled his eyebrows and Charlie reached past George to give him a shove.

"Percy's already denying your existence, if you hadn't noticed. Don't make me do the same." He said while nodding his head towards a boy who sat at the end of the table, with glasses and a proud posture.

"We won't be that easy to ignore, brother dear." George grinned whilst looking at Fred. Charlie ran a hand through his ginger hair and sighed.

"Don't taunt him too much, for you own sake. Or do you _want_ trouble with mum?" They shrugged while stuffing their mouths with food. Charlie let go of the subject and turned back to his friends.

When everyone had finished their meal and was fully satisfied, the Prefects led the first years to the Gryffindor common room, a cosy space covered in red and gold, and almost everyone was too tired to stay up any later. Gabrielle tried to ignore some of the looks she was getting. She had been prepared for this, sort of, and most people were really nice.

She shared a room with Angelina and two other girls and they all agreed that they'd go to sleep straight away. The beds were nice and warm, no one snored, moonlight brightened the room. Eventually Gabrielle fell asleep with one last thought, the thought that when she'd wake up, this would all have been a dream.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

A high-pitched giggle woke her up. It sounded like the girls back at the orphanage, and for a moment Gabrielle thought that the events of yesterday had never occurred. But that didn't take long. Because when she opened her eyes, she didn't see a bunch of squealing girls, she saw a face only a few inches from hers. Surprised, she raised her eyebrows. Angelina Johnson smiled back.

"Thank god you're awake, I'm so bored. I've been up for about twenty minutes now. Been to the common room and back. There were two guys waiting for you there, by the way. Told them to bugger off 'cause you were still asleep" She pulled away, still smiling. Something told Gabrielle that that smile was just part of her usual facial expression. She shook her head and sat up, looking around. Alicia and Jane - their other roommates - had already gone towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

"They left for breakfast about five minutes ago." Angelina said when she saw her frown.

Gabrielle nodded, "I don't think they like me very much."

"Don't worry, they'll come around. It's not everyday you find out you're roommate comes from a family of criminals." Angelina said, so optimistically that it didn't even sound offensive anymore.

Gabrielle grinned and started to get dressed. They talked about Quidditch on the way towards the Great Hall, which Angelina loved to talk about. When Gabrielle told her she didn't know a lot about the game, she was afraid she'd personally offended her. Instead she explained the rules, the third time Gabrielle heard them, and this time it didn't seem that complicated anymore. Although the game itself didn't seem easy to play, the rules were pretty simple.

"Miss Johnson, Miss Black, here are your class schedules, your first class will be with me." Professor McGonagall handed them two sheets of paper as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. They were both excited and anxious for their first day of school, even Angelina, who came from an half-wizard-family.

While they were eating Fred and George joined them together with another Gryffindor, Lee Jordan. Fred and George were already whining that they wanted to see more of the castle. They said the castle was full of secret passages and rooms. "Someone should map this place." Gabrielle noted.

As everyone was talking, she noticed a few heads turning at the Slytherin table. She met eyes with Isaac, a Slytherin in the same year as her, who whispered something to the person sitting next to him. Soon, his other friends turned around as well. It made her feel very uncomfortable. The others, however, didn't seem to notice them and merrily continued their conversation.

"Oi, we should go, wouldn't want to miss our first class." Lee finally said and they exited the Great Hall. Even though they were now floors apart from the Slytherins, Gabrielle still felt oddly aware of the eyes stinging in her back.

xxx

Transfiguration seemed to be a hard subject. Professor McGonagall was a good teacher, yet very strict. It was mostly an introduction to the class, not a lot of magic involved. Soon after that came Potions, with Professor Snape, and there was only one word to describe how that went. Horrendous. Professor Snape seemed to favour his Slytherins, sure. But he absolutely despised Gabrielle.

When she first entered the classroom, he'd taken her off guard with questions about things she'd never even heard of. She shot Angelina a questioning look, who didn't seem to understand it either. So she tried to keep quiet for the rest of the class, although Snape would ask her questions repeatedly. Once Potions had ended, Fred and George approached her and Angelina after class.

"Woah, he really hates your guts, doesn't he?" Fred said with the necessary amusement in his voice.

Gabrielle frowned, "I wouldn't know why, I've never even met him."

She looked at Snape, who was writing something down on a sheet of paper. Suddenly, he looked up and met her eyes. His cold eyes looked almost disgusted, but didn't turn away.

"Don't you have a class to attend to?" His voice always sounded monotonous. "Well? You're already late. Five points from Gryffindor."

George started to protest loudly, "But, sir-"

"Get out of my sight, Weasley! Or I'll make it ten!" He cut him off, raising his voice as he did so. They left the dungeons with hasty footsteps and were lost twice on the way to Charms. When they finally arrived, it was eleven minutes late, but Professor Flitwick didn't seen to mind.

The rest of the day went by quickly, but Gabrielle was unable to stop thinking about the unexplainable hatred coming from Professor Snape. Angelina kept on talking about the different Quidditch teams and strategies and about how she would teach her Quidditch someday.

"Sure thing," Gabrielle chuckled, "I bet I can't even stay on a broom for more than ten seconds."

The thought about flying lessons within two weeks made her feel excited and nausious at the same time.

"Too bad first years can't join the Quidditch team, that's such a dumb rule. I would wipe the floor with those suckers." Angelina said confidently and Gabrielle laughed, "Now that's something I'd like to see."

xxx

Gabrielle woke up by the sound of something metal hitting the floor. The sound came from the common room. It was only two in the morning, nobody should still be there to make this much noise. When nobody else woke up, she grabbed a grey sweater and put it on over her pajamas as she quietly tiptoed to the common room. When she peeked around the corner, she saw Fred and George, unsuccessfully trying to get a suit of armor back into place.

"What are you two doing?" She asked, stepping into the common room. Her voice had startled them so much that the armour slipped through their fingers again. They stood there with a painful expression until the echoing stopped. When everything remained silent, Fred raised his eyebrows at her.

"A little help would be nice." He hissed. Gabrielle grinned as she walked over to help them.

"Why the hell are you still up this late?" She asked when the suit was back in one piece. She thought about asking who dropped the armor in the first place, but decided that she didn't really care.

"We're going to explore the castle, you're free to join if you like." George replied.

She scoffed. "Yeah, right, and watch you two drop things every five seconds until Filch shows up? I think I'll pass."

"Fine. Then you won't get to participate in our brilliant plan."

She'd already turned around to head back towards the dormitories, but stopped out of curiosity. "What plan?"

"A plan for a prank." He whispered mysteriously. Gaby used to pull pranks all the time with Fletcher, but those were nonmagical jokes. Could there be much difference? "I'm in." She concluded and turned to see George sighing while searching the pocket of his pajamas. He handed Fred a galleon, who had a smug look on his face as he accepted it.

"Did you just bet if I'd come with you guys? When?"

"This morning." George grunted, still bummed out because of the loss of his money. Fred, on the other hand, looked very cheerful "Come on, ladies, we haven't got all night!" He pulled them out of the common room with him and together they strolled through the castle.

The halls were never actually abandoned, not even at night. There were always the paintings, the ghosts, Filch with Mrs Norris, the Prefects doing their rounds, teachers, and sometimes, three eleven-year-olds looking for adventure.

They stopped in front of the Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom, taught by Professor Murray. A chubby woman in her mid-forties with a loud, barking voice. Nobody really liked her and it was best to sit in the back during her lessons, because she might get you problems with your hearing.

"What do you plan on doing here?" Gabrielle asked with a hushed voice, a painting of an old man with his cat snored a few feet away.

"We'll tell you once we're inside." George responded and reached for the door. Then he screamed.

"Oh! What's this? Ickle firstyears, in the hallway? Past curfew?!" Peeves the Poltergeist flew through the door and was obviously not making any effort to be quiet. George put his hand to his chest, recovering from the shock, while Peeves continued.

"I'm afraid I'll have to report this.." For a moment he sounded as if he truly felt bad about it, but his devilish grin returned once he looked at them. "Any last words, my little musketeers?" Fred was about to open his mouth but apparently that had been a rhetorical question.

"MISTER FILCH! MISTER FILCH! MISTER_ FIIIILCH_! STUDENTS IN THE HALLS! STUDENTS NEAR THE DADA CLASSROOM!"

Without second thought, they decided to run for it. Filch's hasty footsteps turned around the corner of the corrider when they'd barely reached the other end. They ran and ran, Filch's panting behind them, until they came by a dead end. The only thing there was a statue, but that didn't help very much.

"We. Are. Totally. Screwed." George said through his heavy breathing. Fred leaned against the statue in surrender.

He gasped. "Wait a minute!"

He moved the statue to the side, revealing a narrow tunnel. Fred and George hurried inside, but Gabrielle grimaced.

"That doesn't look very pleasant." She didn't like small spaces, especially not with more people in it. But they didn't seem to care and both grabbed one of her arms, pulling her inside.

It was cold and small and silent. She felt as if she was stuck in an overfull pickle jar, slowly suffocating by the lack of oxygen. Trying to control her breathing, she focused on Filch's footsteps. He was walking around, searching for them. They furiously hoped he didn't knew about the existence of the secret passage.

Which apparently he didn't, because minutes later he left, muttering grumpily about Peeves. When he was completely out of hearing-distance, they released their breaths and practically fell out from behind the statue.

"Woah," Fred patted the statue's head, "Thanks, Greg, we never doubted you for a moment."

"Greg?" She managed to bring out, still out of breath.

"Statue of Gregory the Smarmy, good to know there's a hidden passage behind it. I wonder where it goes." George looked at the statue and then at Fred. They didn't notice their struggling friend.

"We could go tomorrow?" Fred suggested and George nodded. They turned to Gabrielle.

"So?" They asked simultaneously.

"_So_, what?"

"Will you come with us?"

She took a few more deep breaths, calming herself down. "Come with you, to see where the passage goes?"

Fred nodded, "Yeah, it gets bigger and there are some stairs, but I didn't see very well." Honestly, she'd prefer jumping of the Astronomy Tower than to go back in that bloody tunnel. But her proud took over her fear. They couldn't know she was afraid of a stupid tunnel.

George raised and eyebrow, "And?"

And then, thinking she was probably making the biggest mistake of her life, she agreed.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

They didn't have any problems getting back to Gryffindor tower. Peeves and Filch were nowhere to be found and they encountered no one else along the way, except a few grumpy paintings. Gabrielle was back in her dormitory by 3:30 am and fell asleep immediately after that. The next morning she made sure she was up first to have more bathroom time - an old orphanage habit.

She had slept for barely four hours and tried to bring some life in her face by washing it with ice cold water. It was weird to think that this was only their third day at Hogwarts, it felt as if she'd been there much longer. And frankly, she didn't miss her old home that much. At first she had felt guilty about leaving, but Fletcher was probably making lots of friends at his new school, it wasn't like anybody actually needed her there. Besides, if he had gotten a chance like this, he would have taken it too.

Breakfast went by the same as yesterday. Sitting with Angelina, Fred, George and Lee Jordan, talking about Quidditch and dungbombs - whatever that may be, some looks and whispering. She was starting to get used to it already.

She had also noticed that her other two roommates, Alicia and Jane, were subtly trying to avoid her. Even though it was only the third day, they had never talked to each other and she barely saw them. Not to mention that every time she entered their dormitories, they suddenly had an excuse to leave. Angelina told her that they'd turn around eventually, to just give it time. And even though she seriously doubted that they would, she stopped worrying about them.

Fred and George didn't tell anyone about last night, so Gabrielle took that as a sign that she should shut up too. They would go there again tonight, to see where it goes. Perhaps she could make up an excuse not to go, although they'd probably break into her dormitory to make sure she'd come with.

"What classes do we start with?" She asked, to no one in particular.

"Potions, then Charms."

She groaned at the thought of another Potions class. One lesson with Snape had been enough.

George chuckled, "C'mon, sit with me in the back and just keep your head down."

She gave him a grateful look and grabbed another piece of toast. Suddenly, she realized something.P

"I forgot my bloody Potions book, be right back." She stood up and left the Great Hall. Unfortunately, on the way to Gryffindor Tower, she crossed paths with some Slytherins. At first she hoped they would just keep on walking, which, inevitably, they didn't. They stopped and blocked the corridor. Gabrielle looked around to see that there was nobody else in sight. They were with four, most of them first years, and they all had smug looks on their faces.

"Ehm," she said after a while, when they remained silent. They still didn't say anything, didn't do anything but stand there, blocking the way. Gabrielle frowned as she made an attempt to push her way through.

"So, a Black?" The one in the middle noted as he pushed her back, "Most of the remaining Blacks are in Azkaban." It was Isaac, she recognized him from class. He had dark hair, brown eyes, olive skin and had a cocky look on his face.

"Including your dad, right? Sirius Black, the lunatic who blew up those Muggles?" The girl to his right, Mariah, added. Before Gabrielle could even think of a response, Isaac took the word again.

"Well, let's not blame him for that. I mean, who wouldn't want to blow up a couple of filthy Muggles?"

That made her angry. Fred and George had told her about how some wizards thought that Muggles or Muggleborns are below them, how they thought they were superior because of their "Pureblood" status. Frankly, at first she didn't believe anybody could be that closed-minded, up until now.

Despite him being nearly a foot taller than her, she really felt like punching him.

"What, no reaction? I must say I'm a bit disappointed, we were expecting more from you." He continued, mockery in his words.

The others laughed with him and she had to clench her fists to stay calm. "Please move." Isaac grinned, took a step closer and met her eyes.

"Or else what?"

She just really wanted to hurt the guy. Give him a black eye or something, a split lip. She even briefly considered using her wand ; only to realize that she didn't know any spells, let alone one that could do actual damage. Besides, she couldn't get in trouble on her third day. Especially not when she'd already snuck out of her dormitories last night to stroll around the castle.

It took a deep breath and a lot of will power to say "Or else nothing. I just want to get to my dormitory."

They stared at each other for a while and just as he was about to respond, a voice interrupted him from behind.

"What's going on here?"

If it would have been any other voice, just someone else, she could've felt relieved. But it wasn't. It was actually someone that made her feel the exact obvious. The voice belonged to Professor Snape. They turned around to face the Head of their House, who looked rather annoyed.

"Nothing sir, we were just going to your class when we ran into each other."

Snape looked at Gabrielle, the same look of disgust as last time. "Alright then, move along."

The four of them nodded and left, Isaac subtly bumping shoulders with her whilst passing, leaving her and Snape alone in the corridor. When it became clear that he wasn't going to move, she tried to go past him.

"Not so fast, _Black_." He spit out the name as if it was some kind of insult.

"Yes, Professor?"

"Where are you going? Class starts in five minutes and you're heading in the opposite direction. Do you think so highly of yourself to skip class?"

"W-What? No, I-"

"-five points from Gryffindor. And if you're late for my class, I'll make it ten." He then continued walking without waiting for a reply, leaving her furious. The whole situation was just so unfair. Why did he hate her so much? What did she ever do to him? Whatever it was, she was determined to find out.

She hurried back to her dormitories to get the book and had to run back to the Great Hall, surprised that they were still waiting for her.

"What took you so long? Potions is about to start!" Angelina exclaimed angrily.

"Had a chat with a few Slytherins along the way." She explained as they made their way to the dungeons.

"Really, what happened?" Fred asked curiously.

"I'll tell you later."

Fortunately, they were still on time. Even though most of the students were already there, Snape wasn't. He arrived a few minutes later with Isaac and his gang. Gabrielle lowered her head in the back next to George.

"This will be your first real Potions lesson. Work in pairs, take your books page 6 and brew the given potion. You have one hour, good luck." He didn't sound very sincere about the last bit, but Gabrielle was happy that he hadn't called out on her yet.

"Cure for boils." George read aloud.

"I'll go get the ingredients, you set up the cauldron?" She nodded. When he came back, he had all kinds of weird stuff in his hands. He threw them on the desk and she read the first instruction.

"Add six snake fangs to the mortar." she read aloud. He gave her a look.

"I have no idea which one of these," he vaguely gestured towards their pile of ingredients, "could possibly be a snake fang. So I guess we'll just have to find out when the potion's finished."

Gabrielle honestly had no idea what they were doing, and neither did George. They just followed the instructions as closely as possible. When the hour was over, Professor Snape came by every pair to see the result. Lee and Fred had somehow managed to set their potion on fire and were laughing as they tried to put it out. Snape, however, didn't seem to find it so amusing.

"Well, Mister Weasley and Mister Jordan, if you like to joke around, perhaps I should let you joke around in detention?" Their smiles disappeared.

"Aha, nothing to say? Good. Five points from Gryffindor and don't make that happen again."

He walked on and muttered comments such as "Awful." and "good to see you're trying to discover your talents, Miss Johnson. Potions is not one of them." Eventually he reached the back of the class and observed Gabrielle and George's potion closely. He muttered something inaudible before he strode back to the front of the class.

"Pack your things, you may go now."

George and Gabrielle shared a satisfied look. If Snape had found something bad about their potion, he would've pointed it out in front of the class. Some extra Gryffindor points would've been nice, though.

This time, they arrived on time for Charms. Professor Flitwick climbed on his stack of books and cleared his throat.

"Alright, class, today we're going to learn a new spell. Allow me to demonstrate."

He grabbed his wand and pointed it at one of the books on his desk. "Wingardium Leviosa." The book lifted from the desk and rose al the way to the ceiling, then gently dropped itself back on the desk. "Now, remember, speak clearly and don't forget to make a nice sweep!" He demonstrated the wand sweep again and they copied him, without using magic. Seconds later the entire class was filled with loud Wingardium Leviosa's, but nobody managed to lift the feather yet.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Fred tried to lift the feather, without success.

"You try."

Gabrielle cleared her throat, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather didn't move, but Fred swore he saw it quiver a bit. It was only until fifteen minutes later, the first feather raised from its desk. Angelina looked satisfied as Professor Flitwick praised her good work with five points for Gryffindor, making up for their loss during Potions. By the end of the lesson, most students still hadn't managed to do the spell. For those who did, Flitwick promised a heavier object in their next lesson.

"Now, what happened with those Slytherins?" Angelina asked as they walked to their next class together.

"Well, it's not that special. A couple of them were blocking my way back to Gryffindor Tower, until Snape came along and told them to bugger off."

George smirked, "Yeah, 'cause you two are such great friends."

"Yes, of course. We're even planning a sleepover sometime soon. You're all invited, too."

He grinned, "Sleepover with Snape, wouldn't want to miss that."

"Maybe he'll let us wash his hair." Fred joined in, making everyone laugh.

xxx

By the end of the day, she had trouble focussing on the conversations she had. All she wanted was to go to bed, but that wasn't an option. When she tried to cancel on Fred and George, they had started whining until she'd changed her mind and had promised to come. To her concern, they seemed as cheerful as ever, not effected by any lack of sleep. So, as promised, they waited until everyone went to bed and the common room was empty. In the meantime, Gabrielle finished reading chapters one and two in The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection for tomorrow's DADA class.

It was about one o'clock when everybody had gone to bed. Fred stood up, "Okay, you guys ready?" George nodded and she yawned in response.

The halls were dark and cold. Loud snores came from the paintings and those who woke up just looked at them and scoffed. Nobody really knew where the statue was exactly, so they decided to follow their own footsteps. Starting by the Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom, all the way to the fifth floor. They moved the statue and looked at the dark tunnel.

"Lumos." Gabrielle muttered the spell they had learned in class yesterday. In result, tip of her wand illuminated and she pointed it at the tunnel. Fred and George did the same. It did become wider and the ceiling became higher, but it also went deeper into the ground. The mere sight of it made her feel nauseous.

"C'mon." George said and he went in first. Fred grinned at her and went in second. She took some deep breaths and followed. There were lots of stairs and the place smelled like dirt and fungus, making it harder for her to focus on her breathing instead of the stone walls trying to suffocate her. After a five minute walk, the stairs stopped and the tunnel went on. They didn't say anything until there was another set of staircases in front of them. Fred pointed his wand above his head and the ending of the tunnel was visible after a few dozen steps.

Eager to get out, Gabrielle went up the stairs first and lead them to the end of the tunnel. Above them, there was some sort of hole in the ceiling, covered by a wooden board. She pushed it away with little effort and crawled out of the tunnel as fast as she could have. Fresh air filled her lungs and cleared her head. Looking around, she saw lots of trees and bushes.

"I think we're in the Forbidden Forest." She said as she helped Fred out of the tunnel. After George had both his feet on the ground as well, they started to walk around a bit.

"So, an all-time available passage in and out of Hogwarts?" Fred asked, leaning against a tree.

"I wonder how many people know it exists." George replied as he examined their surroundings. Gabrielle shrugged, "Probably not a lot, or else Filch would've checked it last night."

Fred looked around, "Wasn't the Forbidden Forest supposed to be dangerous and scary?" He asked, not impressed. It wasn't that bad actually, the only thing making the place feel cold and unpleasant was the darkness.

"Not much to see here, can we go back now?" Gabrielle asked after a while, tiredness hitting her again. The past few days had been too long and too eventful, and she was sure that there were no other first years who had done this much after only three days at Hogwarts.

The way back seemed to be much faster than the way there, Gabrielle also felt less suffocated by the narrowness of the tunnel. Soon they were back at Hogwarts, nobody in sight.

"Oi, have you read those chapters due tomorrow?" Fred suddenly asked Gabrielle.

"For DADA? Yeah."

"Can you give us a short summary on what it's about?" George asked, a hopeful look in his eyes. She scoffed, "This is literally our first homework assignment and you're already to lazy to do it?"

Fred gave her a fake-offended look, "Just give us the bloody summary!"

"Okay, okay, it's about Doxies. Weird little biting elf thingies-"

"-didn't we have a Doxy-infestation few years back?" Fred asked George, interrupting her. "Yeah, mum went nuts." He replied.

She gave an exaggerated sigh, regaining their attention, and continued. "So yeah, they bite, as you might already know. Often mistaken with Fairies, therefor the nickname Biting Fairy." They nodded and turned around the corner. "Anything else?"

"Not really, no." She tried to remember the chapter. "Removing them requires a good supply of-"

"Doxycide?" Another voice had joined the conversation.

They jumped in surprise and turned around to see Filch, holding Mrs Norris. "Well, well, well, first years? You must be the same from yesterday!" Not giving them the chance to come up with an excuse, he went on. "You come with me. What House?"

George gulped, "Gryffindor."

Filch's smile brightened. "Ooh! I can't wait for Professor McGonagall to ship you lot back home!" Laughing evilly, he nudged them to follow him. He lead them to his office, a small room packed with all kinds of stuff.

"You stay here, and wait until I get back. And don't you dare touch a thing!" He commanded and left with hasty footsteps.

Gabrielle sat down on a chair, her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. How could we have been so careless? She asked herself, desperately trying to think of a way to turn the situation around. Fred and George, however, were doing something entirely different.

"What are you doing, for god's sake?" She asked. They were searching the drawers of the old desk which was shoved up against the wall.

"Searching. Oi, this one's locked." They started to violently shake the desk, giving Gabrielle a headache.

"Could you stop that?" She hissed.

"Not before this thing opens." Groaning, she stood up and walked over, drawing her wand. "Alohomora." She muttered and the drawer flew open. Fred gave her a confused look, "Where did you learn to do that?" She shrugged, "I read ahead in our Charms textbook."

George then pulled a piece of parchment from the drawer. "What's this?"

Fred looked at it lazily. "I don't know, a piece of parchment, maybe?"

"But why keep it in a locked drawer?" George retorted, but didn't get an answer because of the approaching footsteps in the hallway. He quickly stuffed it in his pocket and they spread over the room, trying to not look suspicious. McGonagall appeared in the doorway, looking rather moody.

"I found them on the fifth floor, Professor." Filch explained with a smug look on his face.

"You three, off to bed. We'll deal with this in the morning." She said sternly, making Filch looked rather disappointed. "Thank you Mister Filch." She thanked him and angrily nudged them to go. They ran back to Gryffindor tower and said a quick goodbye before going to their separate dorms. Finally, she could get some sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Time started to pass quicker, hours became days and days became weeks. The last bits of summer had disappeared and a new, colorful sense of autumn had set over the everlasting landscape surrounding Hogwarts castle. McGonagall had given them detention for a week - making them the first firstyears in al long time to achieve such an accomplishment that early within the school year.

Fred, George and Gabrielle had already made the start of a long lasting friendship, being inseparable by now. The amount of homework had also increased quite a bit, causing lots of firstyears to constantly whine about it to their superior students, who, in return, envied their eleven-year-old companions with their small amount of subject material.

Gabrielle had found it necessary to become familiar with some of the crucial points in the magical history, and so it was that she walked into the library for the first time on a rainy saturday. There weren't many students who voluntarily spent their saturday afternoon in the dusty old library. As expected, the majority of the students were Ravenclaws. Grabbing some books on recent wizard history, she sat down at a table occupied by another Hufflepuff. The boy didn't look up from the piece of parchment he was writing on and Gabrielle didn't want to disturb him, so she took a seat at the other end of the table.

Flipping through the first book, she stopped at a chapter about Dumbledore. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. Nice name, she muttered to herself. 'Discovered the twelve uses of dragon's blood.' 'Famous alchemist who worked with Nicholas Flamel, the only known maker of the Philosophers Stone.' The chapter was filled with words she didn't understand, although she wasn't putting much effort into it. She sighed and closed the book with a loud thud, which made the Hufflepuff frown as he kept on writing.

As she started on a randomly chosen page in one of the other books, the boy looked up from his essay, looked at the stack of history book beside her and smiled. "Muggleborn?" He asked. She was surprised at the lack of arrogance in his voice, he'd just asked it as a normal question instead of an insult.

"Not really, no." She replied, shaking her head. His smile was still there though, a brilliant smile which flashed his white teeth.

"I'm Cedric Diggory, secondyear Hufflepuff, nice to meet you." He stretched out his hand, which she shook, feeling a bit awkward.

"Gabrielle Black, firstyear, Gryffindor." A look of recognition crossed his face.

"God, of course you are!" He exclaimed, apparently not realizing he was making her feel uneasy. "Is it true you grew up in an orphanage?" He asked curiously, looking at her with an eager expression. She had hoped furiously not to be the topic of conversations between anyone, which clearly had been pointless.

"Yeah, that's why I'm trying to catch up on some stuff." She nudged her head towards Bathilda Bagshot's A History Of Magic. He nodded understandingly, "You're a bit late, you know. Most Muggleborns come here in september."

"Good thing I'm not a Muggleborn, then." She grinned, "What are you doing?"

"I'm writing a Potions essay. It is so bad, if Snape sees this he's gonna cry." Gabrielle snorted, "More like burn the bloody paper. The man's got issues."

He laughed and moved his stuff to the seat across from her, making a lot of noise while doing so. Madam Pince, the librarian, shushed him from behind her desk. "I see you've already witnessed how charming he can be. Don't worry, he hates everyone."

"I've noticed, yeah. Perhaps he'd like me more if I actually understood anything about Potions." She sighed.

Cedric grinned, "I wish I could help you with that, but I'd probably just make it worse." He then pointed at the books in front of her, "But I might be able to help you with this."

She raised an eyebrow and motioned towards his own studies. "Shouldn't you be finishing that essay?"

"I think that would be boring for both of us." He said, smiling. "Now do you want my help or not?"

She smiled back, "Anything's better than having to read these books."

"Okay, where should I begin, ehm.." He ehm'd for a remarkably long time until he finally found a good subject.

"Ever heard of Harry Potter?" Gabrielle shook her head. "Well, he's one of the most famous wizards of all time, my dad used to tell me stories about him. He defeated YouKnowWho when he was just a babe and-"

"Wait, YouKnowWhat?" She interrupted him, grimacing.

"Oh, right, you don't know! YouKnowWho was one of the greatest evil wizards of the past century. He tried to create an army, called Death Eaters, to rid the magic world of all Muggles and Muggleborns. And then, one night, he came after Harry's parents - who he murdered - and he tried to kill Harry, too. But he couldn't, Harry survived and YouKnowWho vanished, disappeared. Most say he died, but some claim him to be alive still." He spoke fast, a look of excitement on his face, and by the last sentence he made his voice all low and spooky. She didn't get it.

"But why YouKnowWho? Doesn't he have a name?"

"Yes, of course, but you shouldn't say it out loud. Bad luck, people say." Cedric shrugged. "Oi, dinner's almost ready. Do you mind continuing this another time?"

"Yeah, sure." She muttered, still thinking about this Harry Potter. He helped her place the books back in their rightful place, under the pressing eye of Madam Pince, and they walked towards the Great Hall together.

"Guess I'll see you later, Gabrielle Black." He smiled and waved as he set off for the Hufflepuff table, where he was greeted with lots of noise.

She found Lee Jordan sitting by himself, probably waiting for the others, while he scooped some mashed potatoes onto his plate. "Hey! Where have you been all day?" He asked as she sat down across from him. "Library, met a Hufflepuff."

"Library? Hufflepuffs? That's not the life you want to live, Black." He joked as he fetched himself some tomatoes. She laughed, "Wasn't that bad, actually. What have you done all day?" Fred popped up on her right, "Nothing, he was just swooning over Angelina." Lee's face flashed scarlet.

"I don't swoon, Weasley."

"Sure you don't. I saw you staring at her in the common room." George joined the conversation as well. They squashed Gabrielle in between them and helped themselves towards some sandwiches. Lee attempted to change the subject, "Did you know that she spent the entire afternoon in the library with Hufflepuffs?" They now turned their attention to her.

"Hufflepuff, as in singular form. And it's not like going to the library is a crime." George scoffed, "Not if you're a nerd." She elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Ooh, did I miss a fight?" Angelina joined the conversation with a disappointed look on her face as she looked at George, who clasped his side. "Not really, but we were just talking about you." Fred explained, causing her to raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"Do I wanna know?"

Lee quickly said: "No, you don't-"

"-Yes, you do." Fred gave him a sweet smile as he protested.

"What's going on?" Angelina questioned, an alerted expression in her eyes. "Can I tell her?" George asked Lee, to which Lee sternly replied with "No, you can't." Fred jumped in as well.

"Maybe if I could just tell her that you-"

"Both of you shut it!" Lee snapped and gave Angelina an apologetic look. She looked confused and somewhat scared. When everybody remained silent, the look on Lee's face turned into a victorious one. "Thank you." He said and George snorted loudly. Fred, however, couldn't stop from blurting it out.

"So, Lee likes you."

Lots of protests came from Lee's mouth and Fred and George jumped in, too. Their conversation became so loud that several students from other tables turned around to shush them. Afterwards, Gabrielle and Angelina headed towards the common room together. She tried to tease Angelina about Lee, but she just laughed it off.

As usual, there was no sign of Alicia and Jane. They still didn't seem to trust her, even after living together for almost two months now. It also didn't bother her as much as it used to.

When they entered the dormitory around ten o'clock, Alicia turned towards her, a rarity. "George asks if you want to come to the common room- just you." She added while looking at Angelina, who was about to stand up. "Ehm, okay. Thanks, Alicia." Alicia nodded and went back to the common room with Jane, leaving them a bit puzzled. "Be right back." Gabrielle said as she closed the door behind her.

They were seated in a corner of the common room, bent over a paper of some kind. "What's up?" She asked as she sat down across from them. Fred nudged his head towards the piece of parchment in front of them. Looking at it, she didn't notice anything extraordinary. "I'm staring at a piece of parchment." She looked at them blankly.

"Why am I staring at a piece of parchment?"

"There were words on it, just a minute ago. But they disappeared." George said, eyes wide.

"Tried poking it with a wand?" Gabrielle suggested, earning a shove from Fred.

"This is serious."

"And yes, we tried." George added.

First, she thought they were messing with her, but after few minutes they really started to look distraught. Frowning, she twisted the paper around in her hands. It was old, had a few stains on it, no words.

"Is this the one you stole from Filch's office?"

George nodded.

"Well, what did it say?"

"Something like; Misters Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, are proud to present the Marauders map."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The curtains opened and a painfully bright light reached her eyes. Groaning, Gabrielle rolled over and pushed her face into her pillow. She would have fallen back to sleep if it weren't for Angelina's whining.

"Shut up." Gabrielle grumbled while throwing her pillow at her. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and had to wait several seconds until her eyes would finally adjust to the light. When they did, she could see Alicia standing by the window, fully dressed with a grin on her face.

"You better have a good reason for nearly blinding us." Angelina threatened as she sat up as well, tubbing her eyes. Alicia sighed and sat down on Gabrielle's bed.

"Look, I know I haven't been very friendly towards you, and I'm sorry. But I'd like to be friends, if you're okay with that." Her sudden offer to be friends surprised her, as this would be the longest conversation they'd ever had. Alicia kept on staring at her while her slow morning-brains tried to come up with a decent answer.

"Yeah I'd love to be friends." Was all she could think of. "What about Jenna?" She asked, remembering their other dorm mate.

"I'll talk to her about it, no worries." Alicia smiled and jumped to her feet. "Perhaps you two should get dressed, classes start in half an hour." She noted before leaving for breakfast with bouncy steps. The door slammed shut and Angelina groaned loudly, "Well that was weird."

"Yeah, it was."

xxx

"What if someone's trying to tell us something?" George whispered during Transfiguration.

"What could a piece of paper have to tell that would even be remotely interesting?" She replied with a yawn.

He thought about it for a while and then came to another 'solution'. "Maybe someone's stuck inside and they can't get out!"

"If I agree with you, would you please shut up about it?" Gabrielle hissed, trying to concentrate.

"A piece of paper which has a secret writing on it! How can you ignore that?" George hissed back, not giving up.

Before Gabrielle could reply, the stern figure of Professor McGonagall towered before her. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow.

"I hope my teaching isn't interfering with your conversation, Miss Black. Perhaps I should give my lesson another time?" Gabrielle shook her head. McGonagall turned around swiftly and strode back to the blackboard. Without turning around, she said "Tell me, Miss Black, what is the purpose of the Avifors spell?"

"It, ehm, turns the target into a bird." She answered. Professor McGonagall nodded approvingly, but continued her lesson watching them closely. It was their last class for the day, and when it was finally over Fred and George dragged her up to Gryffindor tower to, once again, discuss the map. Even though their exams were fast approaching, they wouldn't stop talking about the Marauder's Map, coming up with theories which just seemed to get stranger and stranger.

Fred snatched the fizzy wizzies out of her hands. "Less eating, more thinking." He said and handed her the map. She glared at him and took it. The thing was old, covered with various stains and a slight stench of old paper came with it. "This thing could use a nice bath, though." She mumbled as she unfolded it. They both stared at her curiously, as this was the first time she'd taken a proper look at the map. After a while of examining an odd-looking stain she gave up.

"I've got nothing." They frowned at her simultaneously.

"You guys should stop doing that."

"Doing what?" They said in sync.

"Stop it." She snarled.

"Stop what?" they asked.

"Saying the same things at the same time."

They stared at each other for a while before exclaiming, "We don't do that!"

"Oh just forget it!" She groaned as both of them started to laugh. "I pity your siblings." She said as Percy came in through the portrait hole and shot his giggling brothers a dirty look.

"We do too." George grinned. Fred, however was still laughing.

"You know you laugh like a seven year old girl, right?" She grinned as Fred's head became slightly red.

"Worst part is it takes him ages to stop." George sighed and patted his twin brother on the back. His laughter was ceasing, but then he started to hiccough, which made him laugh again.

"What's going on here?" Angelina frowned as she saw Fred basically choking on his own laughter. "Don't mind him, he's just happy to see you." George explained, eying the book she was holding. "What's that?"

Angelina handed him the book. "Our Transfiguration textbook. You know, that book for our hardest class."

George pretended the book was some kind of mysterious object; looking at it with wide eyes, his mouth hanging slightly open. "Give me that." Angelina snatched the book away and put it in her bag. "Exams are only a few weeks away and I will not fail because of something as stupid as Transfiguration."

Fred gasped dramatically, his laughing-fit apparently finished. "Watch out before McGonagall hears you! I've heard her favorite punishment is turning students into slimy toads."

"Toads, really? Couldn't think of anything better?" Gaby said, shaking her head. Before he was able to have his comeback, Angelina put a hand over his mouth and turned to Gabrielle. "Can you help me study?" She asked, ignoring Fred's muffled noises against her hand.

"Ehm.. Yeah, sure." She responded, all but excited. Angelina wanted to smile but yelped instead, rapidly pulling her hand from his mouth. "You licked me!"

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Did not, no proof!"

"How about your spit on my hand!" She raised her hand for them to see the glimmering on its palm.

"Gross." Gabrielle commented.

Fred examined the spit and eventually concluded that it wasn't his. "Nope, that's not mine."

"What do you mean it's not yours?!" She said agitatedly.

"As in that isn't my spit, mine has more of a greenish glow to it."

Giving up, she motioned for him to stop talking and wiped her hand against the couch to remove the saliva.

A new voice joined the conversation, "I see you guys haven't started studying either?" Lee sat down on the edge of the couch.

"Nope." George said, groaning at the thought of exams. Frankly, the three of them hadn't done anything so far. They'd been too busy with pranks and the map to actually think about exams up until now.

"Hey, Lee, you're just in time to see me winning an argument." Fred greeted him. "Winning? I doubt that." Angelina scoffed as they picked up where they left off. Whilst they went back to arguing, Gabrielle noticed George was staring at the map again.

Sighing, she stood up and grabbed the parchment out of his hands. Protesting, he tried to take it back. "You're developing an unhealthy obsession, mate." She said while folding it up and putting it in her bag. "C'mon Angelina, I thought we were going to study for Transfiguration?"

Angelina ended her discussion with Fred with a final 'whatever' and they left the common room, heading for the library.

xxx

"Psst." Fred hissed to the person sitting in front of him.

"Pssst!" He tried again, a little too loud this time. A few desks away Professor Snape stood still as his eyes scanned the room. When he couldn't find the source if the noise, he continued his patrol; like a prison guard watching his prisoners.

"Oi!"

"What?!" Gabrielle hissed back, annoyed.

"What have you got for question 6?" He whispered almost inaudible, in an attempt of keeping things quiet. All firstyears were taking their theoretical Potions midterm exam. That would be about forty anxious students, all with the same horrifying exam.

"B, now shut up."

But Fred wasn't done yet, "And question 11?"

"Why don't you just ask Snape while you're at it?!" She snapped, her eyes following Professor Snape across the room. Fred sighed and decided to try something else. He silently turned to the person next to him and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Fred, if you don't leave me alone right now I will stab your eyes out with this quill." Angelina warned him. Immediately backing off, Fred groaned and turned back to his exam. Fortunately, as Potions was their final exam, Christmas break had finally arrived. Allowing them to go home and visit their families, or, in Gabrielle's case, the orphanage. She wondered how Fletcher was holding up. She hadn't heard from him ever since she left for Hogwarts, as sending him an owl wasn't very practical.

"Time's up, stop writing." Professor Snape's monotonous voice echoed through the room. With a sweep of his wand the exams were jerked out of the students hands as they flew to his desk, forming a neat pile.

Later, on her way to the Great Hall, Gabrielle ran into Cedric Diggory. "Hey, how did Potions go?" He asked, joining her. "Well, besides his irrational dislike towards me, I think it went kinda okay."

He smirked, "Kinda okay? That doesn't sound too bad. Just wait until next year, it gets worse."

"So, any plans for Christmas break?" She decided to change the conversation to a less depressing subject. "I'm just going home, nothing special." He ran a hand through his messy brown hair. "You?"

"Same." She replied absently, thinking about what Christmas would be like back at the orphanage. Probably the same as last year, and the years before that; a small tree in the living room and a bit more food than usual. One time, Trudy, the cook, had managed to scramble enough money together to give each child a small present. That came second in the list of best things Gabrielle ever got; first was, of course, her Hogwarts letter.

"Guess I'll see you later then." Cedric's voice pushed the thoughts away and made her aware that they'd arrived at the Great Hall. Fred and George's red hair weren't hard to distinguish at the end of the table from where she stood. "Bye, and Merry Christmas!" She added, realizing they probably wouldn't see each other again until after the holidays.

George looked up from his food as she approached them. "You know, we're really starting to think you like that Hufflepuff better than us." He said, stuffing his face with mashed potatoes. "That's because I do." She smiled as he glared at her with his mouth full.

"Any plans for Christmas?" She asked while filling her plate with the delicious food she would have to miss for two weeks. "I hope it doesn't snow, so we can play some quidditch." Fred said. "Think Charlie will let us borrow his broomstick?" He asked, turning to George.

He shrugged, "Even if he won't we can just take it, wouldn't be the first time anyways."

Charlie, accidentally overhearing their conversation as he walked by, stopped and grimaced. "Did you guys use my broomstick?"

"Depends," Fred started.

"Would that be a bad thing?" George finished.

"Not unless you break it, because mom won't be your biggest problem if you do." Charlie casually threatened his twin brothers before leaving to sit with his friends. "They grow up so fast, don't they?" Fred sighed dramatically when Charlie was out of hearing distance, wiping away a non-existent tear.

"Too fast, Freddie, too fast." George answered while taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.

At that moment Lee and Angelina entered the Great Hall. They sat down on both sides of Gabrielle, squashing her in between them. "How did your Potions exam go- " Angelina started but was cut off by George.

"No!" He exclaimed, "No exam-talk, it's stupid and pointless and a total buzz-kill."

Gabrielle smirked, "Guess it didn't go so well, eh?"

"I told you, Black, no exam talk." George said, pointing his finger at her warningly. Grinning, she raised her hands in surrender.

Back in the Gryffindor common room, they said goodbye to Lee and Angelina as they both went to bed. Realizing this would be the most appropriate moment, Gabrielle grabbed the map out of her bag and gave it back to Fred. He looked surprised, having momentarily forgotten about it. "Why are you giving it back?"

She shrugged, "I don't know what to do with it, and you guys seem to have more fun with it anyways."

They grinned and started to unfold it again, but were interrupted. "I'm giving it back but that doesn't mean you have to discuss it while I'm here." She said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Then go to bed, we're going to figure this thing out even if it's the last thing we do." George said determinedly. Glaring daggers, she left them and went to her dorm, where she fell asleep listening to Angelina's silent snores.

xxx

"I can't believe it's only been four months." Angelina said absently as she stared out of the window. The Hogwarts Express would soon arrive in Kings Cross station, where their families were waiting for them. Angelina was right, thought Gaby, it's weird how four months felt like a lifetime. She barely remembered Trudy's cooking, or Fletcher's jokes. The past four months at Hogwarts had made her feel more at home than the orphanage ever had.

Once the train arrived, Angelina and Gabrielle said their goodbyes and gave each other a quick hug, to which Fred and George referred as 'heartbreaking'.

"See ya in two weeks, Black." George grinned.

"And try not to die in the mean time, we still have to rub it in your face when we figure out how the map works." Fred added, earning another glare. When they left with their brothers, Gaby went to the front of the station; waiting for Mrs Miller to pick her up.

XXX

**In reply to Abbygirl's review : I'm glad you liked it! And thank you for letting me know that Cedric is a year older than them, I hope I fixed it properly. Yeah, I'm probably going to set her up with one if them, just have to figure out which. I have a lot of ideas for this story and I hope I'll get myself to actually writing them. Thank you so much for your review :)**


	7. Chapter 7

chapter 7

About forty minutes later, Mrs Miller arrived in a cab. She looked the same as always; old and agitated, as if everything went to slow for her. After another three-hour drive they were finally back at the orphanage. It was almost like time had stopped when she'd left and only now it started running again. Everything looked the same, from the old shrieking gate to the trees in the yard.

It was near midnight and that meant everyone was already asleep, so Gabrielle was sent straight upstairs to the girls room. She tip-toed through the house and, as she'd hoped, Fletcher was waiting for her at the top of the stairs, close to squealing when he saw her. She ran up as quietly as she could. "Finally!" He exclaimed, too loud.

She shushed him and whispered, "Shh, don't get us busted."

"I won't, I just have so much to tell you." His smile suddenly disappeared. "Perhaps I should start with the story Mrs Miller came up with to tell the others after you left."

Gabrielle raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue.

"Well, she kinda told everyone you had to go to a 'special school' because you had some kind of.. special condition." He failed in his search for better words.

"Special condition?"

"She basically told everyone you were retarded." Fletcher blurted out.

She felt stupid as she should have expected something like this. Of course Mrs Miller wouldn't tell anyone that she was a witch, if Mrs Miller herself even believed that. But still, she could have been a tad bit more creative with her back-up story.

She was just about to say something as someone, supposedly Mrs Miller, started to come up the stairs. Without saying goodbye, they left for their rooms as fast and quiet as humanly possible. Trying not to wake the others up, Gabrielle silently found her way to her bed.

So there she was, right where she started; laying in her old bed, staring at the ceiling. Far away from Hogwarts and its magic.

xxx

After two weeks of being stared at and talked about by the other children, which was basically the same at Hogwarts, Gabrielle finally came to her last day at the orphanage. Honestly, she didn't know what to think. She was happy to return to Hogwarts and to see Fred, George and Angelina again, but also sad that she had to leave Fletcher behind.

They'd had quite the catching-up to do. He'd told her about his new school, about how it was horribly lame and how the other kids were unbelievably dull. In return, she'd told him about her studies at Hogwarts. Even though she'd been aching to tell him about her adventures with Fred and George, something in her head told her she shouldn't. Perhaps it was because she empathized with the fact that he's stuck here or simply because he wouldn't have believed her any way.

So, instead of telling him about all of the exciting stuff, she'd shown him some of her spell books and her wand (which he'd expected to have been more magical, as his reaction to it had been "Really, that's it? A bloody stick?"), making Hogwarts sound almost like any other school. Except for the magic, of course.

"So you'll be back by Easter, then?" He asked her as they waited outside for the cab to come pick her up.

"Yeah, only for one week, though." She said, suppressing the chill that rolled down her back. It was snowing and her coat wasn't that thick. Fortunately, the cab arrived just then. About to say their goodbyes, Fletcher grumbled something inaudible, with a painful expression on his face.

"What was that?"

His frown deepened as he reluctantly said "I'm gonna miss you."

She laughed and punched his shoulder. "Ouch!" He grumbled, rubbing the sore spot, "What was that for?"

"I'm gonna miss you, too." Gabrielle grinned as she got in the cab. Just like last time, she watched him through the back window as they drove away, and she continued to look even when he was long gone.

xxx

"Oi, Black!" She heard the distinct voices of the twins calling her name as soon as she stepped foot on platform 9 3/4. She turned around to see them standing a few feet further. Judging by the abundance of red hair, they were with their family.

She made her way through the mob of people standing between them and then stood in front of the Weasley family. Including the ones she already knew; Charlie, Percy and the twins. However, the ones she didn't know were pretty obvious. The small boy with the long nose was Ron, the only sister was Ginny and the other two were their parents, Molly and Arthur Weasley. Despite already knowing their names, she pretended she didn't as they introduced themselves.

"Hello, dear, you must be Gabrielle! Fred and George have told us so much about you." Their mother came up to her almost immediately with a tight embrace. "I'm Molly, their mother. And this is my husband, Arthur." Mrs Weasley continued as she let go. Her husband popped up beside her, smiling as he shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you." She mumbled while smiling back. Mrs Weasley then introduced two youngest children. "And that's Ginny, our youngest, and Ron- What are you two doing?!" The sweetness in her voice was soon replaced with a sort of motherly annoyance as she saw that Fred and George had given their younger brother a Hiccough Sweet, causing the poor boy to start hiccoughing unstoppably.

"Why do you always have to bully you brother like this? What has he ever done to you?" She yelled at them, but they continued to laugh at their sibling. Even Mr Weasley cracked a smile, only when his wife wasn't looking, of course.

"Sorry, mum, but we've got a train to catch!" Fred grinned as he took Gabrielle by the arm. "See you in three months!" George said as he took the other and they pulled her on the train without bothering to wait for a reply.

They didn't let go of her until they'd found an empty compartment. "Shouldn't we go look for Angelina and Lee?" She asked as they closed the door behind them. "We've got something to show you first." Fred said mysteriously as he reached inside his coat. As she'd expected, he pulled put the dreaded piece of parchment otherwise known as The Marauders Map.

"Honestly, this again?" She asked, irritated.

"Shut up and listen." Fred said as he laid it down in front of her.

"It's been giving us hints." George continued as he tapped it with his wand. The words _It is good to be up to no good_ appeared.

She read the words aloud and shot them a confused look, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Wait, there's more." George said as he tapped it again. The previous sentence vanished and another took its place. _Solemnly swear that you will use this map for the right purposes._

"Now that's just weird." She noted. "So, what are you looking for? A password?"

Fred nodded, "We think so, yeah. But we just can't figure it out."

"It's got to have something to do with these two sentences." George added.

At first, they thought what they could mean, but when the three of them couldn't come up with anything they started looking for possible combinations of the two.

"I solemnly swear I will use this map to do good." Fred began, without luck.

Gabrielle grinned, "Don't make promises you can't keep, Fred." He shot her a dirty look and turned back to thinking, which seemed to take a lot of effort. After a while he gave up, and apparently so did George. They just sat there, pouting and staring out of the window.

"Fine." She grumbled while pulling out her wand. They looked at her expectingly as she thought about the right combination. It took her a minute or so to think of a decent one. When she finally did, she cleared her throat to try it out.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

xxx

"You did it!" Fred exclaimed before she even noticed what had happened. It wasn't writing that had started to appear on the parchment, it were lines. Lines which came together and parted again, forming some kind of blueprint. Which, when she thought about it, was actually kind of predictable, as it was called the Marauders Map. They unfolded some more of it and it soon became clear what it was.

"Is that?" George asked unbelievingly.

"No, it can't be." Fred mumbled.

"But it is." Gabrielle said, smiling.

They looked at each other for a while, their eyes full of mischief. "Think of all the pranks we can pull off with this!" Fred said, dozens of ideas already coming to mind. Gabrielle unfolded the map a bit further and muttered "No way."

"What?" They asked in unison.

"Look at this." She pointed at several passages leading out of the school. There were seven in total, all going in different directions.

George pointed at one of them and smiled at the memory. "This is the one behind the statue on the fifth floor."

"Oh yeah, the one Filch doesn't know of. Do you think he knows about the others?" Fred asked curiously

"Only one way to find out." Gabrielle muttered and a grin appeared on their faces. She looked at them and asked,

"Prank?"

"Prank."


	8. Chapter 8

chapter 8

They had it all figured out. Tonight would be the night that the biggest prank Hogwarts had ever seen would become reality. They'd already used the map for some small ones - such as letting off dungbombs in various classrooms and sneaking into Percy's dorm to steal his Transfiguration essay - but they hadn't done anything huge yet. That, however, was going to change real soon.

"-so, me and my dad, we have a deal that if I do well on our final exams in june, he'll buy me a new broomstick. So I can try out for the quidditch team next year!" Angelina rambled during breakfast. She spoke so fast that she had to stop to gasp for breath every once in a while.

"That's great, which position are you going to try out for?" Gabrielle asked as she glanced at Fred and George opposite to her, who were looking rather cranky.

"Chaser, of course! And you two, are you going to try out for Beaters?" Angelina turned her attention to the twins.

George scoffed, "We'd love to."

"Especially with our high quality broom sticks." Fred finished somewhat bitterly.

"Sucks." Lee commented through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. He then swallowed them all at once and grinned, "Too bad you won't be trying out, Black. Could've given us a good laugh." Gabrielle turned slightly red as they all laughed.

"Shut up." She muttered.

Angelina patted her back, "It's not your fault you can't ride a broomstick. It's not for everybody."

"But remember when she fell off during class." George grinned, his crankiness momentarily forgotten. They all started laughing again and Gabrielle threw her sandwich at him.

"You've had years to practice flying, you gits." She said, even though she knew flying wasn't exactly for her. There were other Muggleborn firstyears who did much better on a broomstick. And while her friends were all doing loops, she was too preoccupied with not falling off. However, there were other things she was good at. Such as charms and, to Snape's dismay, potions. He always looked for the slightest mistakes for which he wouldn't dare tell any other firstyear off for.

When breakfast was finished and they were all headed towards their next class, Gabrielle made her way to Fred and George and forced her way in between them. "What's up with you guys today?" She hissed, so Angelina and Lee wouldn't hear. They were walking in front of them, seemingly busy in a raving conversation about their favourite quidditch teams.

Fred sighed, "Mum sent us a howler yesterday evening. Good thing we found it in the Owlery."

"Apparently Percy's been complaining." George added. She still didn't seem to get the problem.

"And, that's why you're so cranky? Didn't think you'd be so affected when your mum tells you off."

Fred grinned and said "That's not the reason, she gets angry with us all the time. It's more because she said she wouldn't buy us new broom sticks if we make the quidditch team next year."

"Probably because she can't afford it rather than her being angry with us." George grumbled as they entered Professor Flitwick's class. She understood why they were so down. Not having a lot of money wasn't fun, and she knew that. In fact, she'd been living on nothing for the past year. The school fund took care for her old text books and robes, otherwise she had nothing. Living with so many siblings and so little money, however, must be hard for them. She decided to change the subject as quickly as possible, to cheer them up.

As they were practicing the Fire-Making Charm, very carefully, of course, she nudged Fred with her wand. "Calm down, woman! Wouldn't want to set me on fire, eh?"

She grinned, "Not today, I'm afraid. It's about tonight," - his face lit up a bit, somehow he'd forgotten all about it - "I've got the dungbombs. You've got the map, right?"

"George has it." He nodded his head towards George, who was in the row in front of them, trying to put out Angelina's hair, which apparently he'd set fire to. They both had to try really hard to suppress their laughter when Angelina started scolding him. Part of her hair was now longer than the other and the smell of something burned spread throughout the classroom.

Later that day, Angelina was still scolding him. Older students, who were trying to finish their homework in the common room, sometimes glanced at them in annoyance. Angelina, however, didn't seem to notice.

"What am I supposed to do now?! Look at this!" She rambled frantically, standing in front of George with her hands on her hips. George, on the other hand, was trying his best not to laugh.

"I think it looks great. It was about time you got a new look." This earned him a hit in the face with a pillow. Angelina then left the three of them and stormed upstairs.

"Should I follow her, or?" Gabrielle started, not really feeling up to the task.

"Nah, let her calm down a bit. She'll be laughing soon enough when she sees what we're about to do."

"About that-"

"No! You are not backing out of this one, Black." George cut her off, apparently knowing what she was about to say. He threw some of his Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans towards her, as if to make her doubts disappear. It wasn't necessarily because she was scared to do it, although perhaps more than she cared to admit, it was because her reputation was already bad enough as it is. She could make peace with her roommates all she wanted, the stares and whispers still followed her everywhere she went. Thus far, she'd managed to ignore them. Pulling off something this elaborate, however, wouldn't particularly help her case, either. She kept quiet, though, and waited until it was time to set everything into place.

xxx

"Now why is it I get to do the risky stuff?" Gaby hissed as they handed her a bag full of dungbombs. They smiled and gave her the map as well.

"Time to prove yourself, Black. Besides, you'll become a legend after this, so quit your whining and get on with it." Fred's little pep talk wasn't really stimulating, but she nodded anyways. Fred smiled and gave her a pat on the back. They left without another word, winking at her as they went through the portrait hole. Sighing, she gathered her things and set off towards the kitchens.

xxx

Having followed the maps instructions towards the kitchens, Gaby soon found herself standing in front of a solid stone wall. This was supposed to be it, she thought, checking the map again. Supposedly standing right in front of the entrance, all she saw was a painting of a fruit bowl. She released a frustrated sigh.

"Need some help, Black?" A voice startled her. She turned round only to lock eyes with Cedric Diggory. He wasn't alone, however, he had his usual close group of friends slumping up behind him.

"You know, dinner's that way." He nudged his head further down the hall, as he flashed that brilliant smile of his.

She rolled her eyes playfully and asked, "Just looking for a way into the kitchens, actually. Don't think I'll make it to the Great Hall without a snack. I don't suppose you can get me there?"

"'Course, I can!" He retorted, stepping closer. Perhaps a bit too close. She expected him to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he reached past her towards the painting. Making some sort of tickling motion over the pear; it squirmed, laughed and transformed itself into a green doorknob. Cedric took a step back, still smiling.

"Last place I would've looked." She admitted, adding a quick "Thank you, though".

"No problem. You owe me one, though." He said, walking along; his friends following his footsteps. "See you later, Black." He called after her, without turning around. She watched them slumber to the end of the hall, round the corner and out of sight. Then she turned her attention towards the recently revealed door, pushing it open.

As soon as she stepped inside of the massive room, she let out a terrified scream. After all, half a dozen of the most ugliest things she had ever seen swarmed her with questions. They were about a third of her height, with wrinkly skin and huge out-of-proportion eyes. They all wore dirty old rags seemingly made out of pillow cases and all of them were screaming back at her almost comically. Some people might have found them somewhat cute, but Gaby only thought of them as utterly repulsive.

"W-What are you?" Gaby blurted out, only to realize how rude that must have sounded. However, none of them seemed offended.

"W-W-We are h-house elves. We a-a-are in ch-charge of m-m-maintenance at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The one closest by squeaked. It looked up at her, still shaking slightly from the shock from earlier. "My name is Dusty. Can I help you with anything?"

Gaby stared at the thing before her. On second thought, 'ugly' wasn't fit to describe Dusty and her companions. A better choice of words would be 'pathetic' or, as that might sound a tad bit too harsh, simply 'sad' would suffice. After having temporarily lost her manners, she soon managed to recompose herself. "I'm sorry, it's just that I have never met a house elf before.. nice to meet you!" She added politely, sticking out her hand hesitantly.

Dusty blinked. She – or at least Gaby thought it was a she – looked confused for a moment. Then she started to tear up a bit and let out a loud sob. Her sobs multiplied and before Gaby could do anything she was crying. Evidently, she dropped her arm uncomfortably.

"Please- please don't." She said lamely.

Dusty wiped her eyes and blew her nose on her rags. "I-I'm sorry, m-miss, Dusty is not used to be spoken to in such a polite manner. Dusty hasn't been at Hogwarts very long." Her small frame was still quivering slightly, while her huge eyes were red and puffy. No matter what, Gaby still thought of her as significantly revolting. Besides, she had never been very good in consoling people, which only made the entire situation more uncomfortable.

Gabby cleared her throat, "It's okay, really. Do you mind if… if I just look around? I've never been here before."

Dusty seemed rather surprised and after some more confirmation that that was indeed the only thing she wanted, Dusty and her companions went back to their jobs and left her to look around for a bit. Gaby was wondering whether or not it was suspicious of them to have left her alone. She wandered towards the four tables in the middle of the room and, once she was certain that no one was paying attention to her, she started off for the Slytherin table. It appeared that whatever was put on these tables, magically vanished and was bound to reappear on the actual tables in the Great Hall. Somehow this was not how she had previously imagined this process to happen.

Knowing she'd have to be quick about it, she grabbed a handful of dungbombs and planted the first few on the Slytherin table as subtly as possible. As they disappeared, none of the other house elves, who were obviously very busy, seemed to have noticed. She continued to the Ravenclaw table and put some on there, without bothering to look if they'd actually vanished along with the food or not. Then she placed some on the Hufflepuff table as well, before deciding that she shouldn't have left out Gryffindor. Fred and George had told her not to, but on second thought that didn't seem like such a good idea. It would only draw more suspicion to Gryffindor, making it only a matter of time before they'd caught her. In rather a hurry, she threw the remaining ones on the Gryffindor table and then bolted.

She ran as fast as she could, clutching the map in her right hand, checking it every once in a while. Out of the door, into the corridor, to the right and then up the stairs. The map showed no sign of life. The castle, however, did. Echoes coming from the disturbance in the Great Hall reached her ears. She had just enough time to store the map away before the first waves of people came running her way. They were a group of Ravenclaw girls who appeared to be covered in mashed potatoes and all kinds of other food.

_That's it, I'm screwed._ She thought. Luckily, they took no notice of her presence and just ran on. Gaby panicked slightly as more and more people reached the stairs. Being the small firstyear she was, no one payed attention to her as they passed. All of them were covered in a variety of food; some laughing, others complaining angrily. She took her chance by joining in a rather large group of Gryffindor comprising of second and third years.

Fred and George were nowhere to be found.


End file.
